What's made you smile today?

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

We had an Allegro. I called him Grot. He was mega spacious, comfy and very reliable. Only real fault was mega rust.

Our Skoda Estelle was called Scud. Slow but spacious and reliable. It was basic but the engineering was solid. We arrived at B, having left A before just as we would have done in a Bentley. As ever wehad full maintenance done on time and always ran on the best available tyres. I love looking at the rubbish tyres on old large BM,s and such like. We never had to worry about the car getting stolen either. Scud provided 3 years cost free motoring. The fun we had spotting other Scuds and Grots on long trips was worth all the BMW driver sneers too.

With my interest in tyres I often find myself looking at the tyres on vehicles as I'm out on one of my walks. Older Audis and BMWs, even some quite new one's, are often seen wearing the most terrible rubbish for their "boots" I can only conclude that their owners can hardly afford to run them.

My oldest boy learned to drive in an Allegro which was also his first car. it was very reliable with it's ancient but well proven A series engine. Unfortunately it got written off when an elderly gentleman lost control of his Jaguar when reversing it out of his driveway and T boned the poor old Allegro as my boy was driving past. During the years when I instructed in basic vehicle repair and maintenance students would often turn up with the old rear engined Skodas because they were cheap to buy. I invariably got involved in helping sort them out and actually developed a healthy admiration for them. As long as you realized they needed frequent maintenance, bit like the old Morris Oxford, they were pretty reliable.

Edit. PS My ex BEA pilot brother in law ran about in a Favorit for years and it was still in his garage when he died!

 

[StevenRB45]

Edit. PS My ex BEA pilot brother in law ran about in a Favorit for years and it was still in his garage when he died!

Bloke who taught me to work on cars swore by them, he was a joiner by trade but did all his own work on his cars.

One reason strangely enough was they stopped the tax man looking too hard at his affairs as they thought he mustn't be doing that well. He started with an Estelle, and had every model up to the facelift Felicia and then looked at the Fabia and decided it was too awkward to work on and bought a Seicento which was his final car.

The tyre thing does my nut in...nothing makes a nearly new car look a bit cack like a set of Chinese tyres, mismatched for extra points. Sort of thing that says "I've got a 60k car finance to pay can you loan me a fiver until pay day?" Similarly a tidy older car on a set of matched tyres just looks "proper" somehow.

 

[bugsymike]

I have just sold my 2012 £300 Citroen C3 Picasso as after 4 years at 225k miles it was feeling it's age at auction and got £305 back after commission etc. After going through it when I bought, mostly EGR issues etc. it has never let me down and a fair drive for the price.
Saying about Skoda's, in fairness I tended to run them down for various reasons, including working on the old Estelles and Rapids with the rear engines, plus I had two older customers with the 1.9 PD Fabia , both bought new and the highest mileage one was only 45K , the engines went well but both to me felt graunchy when you dipped the clutch, generally harsh when compared with the VW Golf of the time, one also had issues with the electronic power steering.
However I saw a 07 Skoda Octavia Scout 4x4 2litre diesel needing work and bought it for £700, several years later I am still driving and enjoying it. The only main issues I have had was it smelt due to damp which turned out to be blocked sunroof drains and a ABS fault which I eventually traced to a wiring issue right inside the loom where for some reason it ducks back into the cabin on it's way from the wheel arch to the ABS pump.
I have a 2010 1.6 Fiat Doblo Maxi van which again cost under 4 figures to buy and have sorted most of it's issues, so time will tell if it has settled down enough to equal the other vehicles for outlay.
I also have a 2010 Fiat Scudo Panoramic which I hope to get back on the road soon, although paid a grand and have almost doubled that so far. So time will tell. It does seem like the cheaper ones have been better value.
I don't do many miles now retired, but just enjoy the odd challenge without any pressure from customers expecting their vehicles back yesterday!
When I was working I found my 2.8 Iveco Daily 3.5 tonne versions, of which I had several most tough and reliable.
I can understand people who have to rely on their transport and do many miles buying new or nearly vehicles as it makes good sense, however the depreciation in most cases in the first year is more than my purchase and running costs. I also used to point out to my customers who were thinking of getting rid of there older vehicle, that when out driving look at the age of the ones broken down on the motorway, often neglected much newer models.
Next to buying a house your car is the most expensive thing you buy, however in general the houses go up in value.

 

[bugsymike]

With my interest in tyres I often find myself looking at the tyres on vehicles as I'm out on one of my walks. Older Audis and BMWs, even some quite new one's, are often seen wearing the most terrible rubbish for their "boots" I can only conclude that their owners can hardly afford to run them.

My oldest boy learned to drive in an Allegro which was also his first car. it was very reliable with it's ancient but well proven A series engine. Unfortunately it got written off when an elderly gentleman lost control of his Jaguar when reversing it out of his driveway and T boned the poor old Allegro as my boy was driving past. During the years when I instructed in basic vehicle repair and maintenance students would often turn up with the old rear engined Skodas because they were cheap to buy. I invariably got involved in helping sort them out and actually developed a healthy admiration for them. As long as you realized they needed frequent maintenance, bit like the old Morris Oxford, they were pretty reliable.

Edit. PS My ex BEA pilot brother in law ran about in a Favorit for years and it was still in his garage when he died!

I agree with you Jock re tyres, like you I recall the crossply Remoulds etc. that were common in the 60s and 70s, a sniff of damp weather or a greasy road was a good wake up call, a bit like my first drives in Moskvich and Lada cars on Russian rubber. Still it helped the learning of "cadence braking " pre ABS vehicles.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I had two older customers with the 1.9 PD Fabia

My older boy has had 2 Fabias. One had the 1.9PD which developed the injector wiring loom problem but once you knew about this particular fault it was easy enough to fix. Other than that it was a brilliant engine as long as you used the correct oil or you would end up with camshaft wear. The other had the 1.6CR engine which was constantly needing attention - we gave up on that eventually and he bought a KIA! My Cordoba had the pre PD 1.9 engine - VE - with a Bosch electronically controlled distributor type pump it ran well into the 100,000 miles until the turbo wastegate actuator failed and it was so old by then that you couldn't buy just the actuator. I thought about a used turbo but when I looked seriously at the bodywork - it was about 23 years old by then - I'm afraid i consigned her to the happy hunting grounds.

 

[Cheest]

I do sometimes wonder if the manual authors get paid by the word.

The Mazda had a hefty tome however the section that sticks in the mind was dedicated to explanation of the electromagnetic spectrum complete with diagrams of Long wave radio bouncing off the ionosphere. At least the physics of a collision is somewhat relevant..

I thought that of Melville when I was in high school. But, yeah.

The Factory Service Manual for my 1948 Desoto is thinner than the owners manual for either of our Jeeps or the pickup. The Renegade and the pickup have separate manuals for the radio. . I have the Motorola 'Fact Sheet' for the DeSoto radio, which has every little tidbit on how to repair the radio and it's only a couple of pages. The pickup has a separate book for its' tow package.

 

[The Panda Nut]

My lad and his lease cars.... They have to go back with 3,5mm of tread or thereabouts, so on the last day he takes them and has tyres with 3.5mm of tread fitted..... He did not inherit this degree of parsimony from me. I blame his mother. I just used to remove various light bulbs the spare fuses and the fuse removal tools.

 

[The Panda Nut]

My lad and his lease cars.... They have to go back with 3,5mm of tread or thereabouts, so on the last day he takes them and has tyres with 3.5mm of tread fitted..... He did not inherit this degree of parsimony from me. I blame his mother. I just used to remove various light bulbs the spare fuses and the fuse removal tools.

For Sale Audi eTron. Top spec, one owner... Car of the week...
Its people like him that make me change tyres on second hand cars we buy.

 

[StevenRB45]

On my way to swimming in the sun this morning, pootling through a little village blossom trees on either side... beautiful spring scene.

Spotify decides the appropriate music for this moment is "Kenny Loggins - Danger zone".

 

[The Panda Nut]

On my way to swimming in the sun this morning, pootling through a little village blossom trees on either side... beautiful spring scene.

Spotify decides the appropriate music for this moment is "Kenny Loggins - Danger zone".

Sun.... yes please may we have a little. (Norfolk) The music wont be much good without it. Im about to lighht the fire again!

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

'twas a bright sunny day first thing up here but now clouded over. It's dead calm with not a breath of a breeze but the air is quite cold still. Was planning on doing some gardening today but found Mrs J on the bathroom floor earlier this morning with sickness and gippy tummy. She's now improved a bit so I've just helped her back into bed and heated up a heat pad for her to hold on her tummy. She just wants to be left alone but, obviously I feel I need to hang about until she's more her usual self.

I might amuse myself trying to wirelessly connect the printer to our new broadband hub using the WPS button - never done that before, looks easy though and the printer is in the spare bedroom so I'll be near her if she calls.

Fingers crossed that whatever is causing her sickness isn't catching! I'm in hand washing overdrive!

 

[Cheest]

Cold and bound to be bright sun on this side of the pond once the sun rises. Usually, by this time of the year, it's warm enough to sit in our 3 season room while sipping my Mornin' Joe, watching the sun comes up and laughing at my neighbors going to work, while reading about what's gone to hell in a hand basket somewhere in the world overnight. It still hasn't been warm enough yet. I'm in my recliner with a blanket over me while making sure Buster dog doesn't run upstairs and wake up Crabby.

Jock-I hope Mrs.PAJ feels better. Crabby suffers from the same on occasion.

 

[The Panda Nut]

'twas a bright sunny day first thing up here but now clouded over. It's dead calm with not a breath of a breeze but the air is quite cold still. Was planning on doing some gardening today but found Mrs J on the bathroom floor earlier this morning with sickness and gippy tummy. She's now improved a bit so I've just helped her back into bed and heated up a heat pad for her to hold on her tummy. She just wants to be left alone but, obviously I feel I need to hang about until she's more her usual self.

I might amuse myself trying to wirelessly connect the printer to our new broadband hub using the WPS button - never done that before, looks easy though and the printer is in the spare bedroom so I'll be near her if she calls.

Fingers crossed that whatever is causing her sickness isn't catching! I'm in hand washing overdrive!

Im recovering.. I hope, from a bout of something thats been a week my digestions shot. Age I think.
I hope MrsJ makes a speedy turn to normality. If it doesnt clear up get some proper advice before too long.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

'twas a bright sunny day first thing up here but now clouded over. It's dead calm with not a breath of a breeze but the air is quite cold still. Was planning on doing some gardening today but found Mrs J on the bathroom floor earlier this morning with sickness and gippy tummy. She's now improved a bit so I've just helped her back into bed and heated up a heat pad for her to hold on her tummy. She just wants to be left alone but, obviously I feel I need to hang about until she's more her usual self.

I might amuse myself trying to wirelessly connect the printer to our new broadband hub using the WPS button - never done that before, looks easy though and the printer is in the spare bedroom so I'll be near her if she calls.

Fingers crossed that whatever is causing her sickness isn't catching! I'm in hand washing overdrive!

Oh hurrah! the printer linked successfully with the new router and all seems to be working!

Mrs J seems to have turned the corner in that she's stopped being sick and sitting on the loo now and I've got her tucked up in bed with a microwavable heat pad and the electric blanket on so she's nice and toasty. Hopefully she'll sleep for a while now and feel better when she wakes.

Feeling a bit sorry for myself these days what with loosing my brother back at Christmas time - I'm coming to terms with that now though - and Mrs J's sister being so terribly ill end of February, she's still not quite right even now although we did manage to get her back home to Devon and then spend a couple of weeks with her. I fear that, at 84 years old, she's probably not going to make a complete recovery though.

One thing which has gone very well is that the next day to us returning home the outreach chap turned up to install our full fibre broadband - Sky gave us the installation and router free as part of the negotiations for us to renew our package with them, we were on copper wire before that. The Sky man came and did a survey a few weeks ago, just after we agreed our new contract, and told us the installation of the hardware would be done by the outreach people and to expect they might need to dig a trench across the front lawn to install the new fibre cable. So when the outreach man said he could do it through existing conduiting as long as I didn't mind him drilling a hole for the wire from the hall through into the living room - the conduit terminates in the hall and the new broadband termination needs to be in the living room. The internal wall is just Thermalite type block so drills very easily and he's made a very nice neat job of the whole thing with no "trench" dug across the lawn. He even offered to hoover up when he'd finished if he could borrow our vacuum but there was so little mess I did it myself in about 2 minutes flat.

Unfortunately though that was where the good news ended. I like my AV setup - so NAS, Blu Ray, Freeview reciever/recorder, AV amp and the TV itself - hard wired for speed and reliability so I have one ethernet cable to a splitter/junction box which takes feed for all but the freeview box which I run to the router on it's own dedicated ethernet cable to ensure best loading speeds. So there's only two ethernet cables to plug into the router and all should be up and running. Ok, everything except the Freeview box is fine but the Freeview box seems to be locked in the Android home screen on start up and you need to be in the Freeview screen to access settings, Oh dear. Half an hour of trying all the usual reset procedures and it's having none of it. Checked online for any help, and there's plenty on there for Humax (which is what the box is, a Humax Aura) but nothing about what's happening to me. So rang Humax help line and they talked me through basically what I'd tried already with a couple of slightly different "twists" at the end of which they declared the box faulty, checked I'd had it less than 2 years and agreed to send me a new one. It arrived yesterday and I had it up and running in about 15 minutes of opening the packaging - took about a day and a half to reach me with DPD which I thought was pretty good. I'm also very impressed with the couple of people I spoke to at Humax who were very pleasant and extremely helpful. Having managed to get my printer to comunicate with the new router this morning completes the instalation. We noticed last night that catchup TV/films etc seem to be loading instantaneously with no sign of the wee rotating circle we had before when on copper. I guess that's the fibre speed?

Next big worry is that on Monday our new washing machine is being delivered - the old one, which we've had for years, is beyond repair - and they want quite a lot of money to remove the old machine and install the new one so we refused that part of the deal. My oldest boy is going to help me with the physical side of moving the machines and I've done this job in the past without incident, however, as I'm getting older, I find I worry a lot about what just might go wrong when doing anything. So now I'm worrying I might get a water leak when I'm swapping the hoses over. There is one of those wee ball type (quarter turn) isolating taps but it's mains water on this pipe and we have very good mains pressure. The consequences of a serious leak are frightening me. On the other hand I've done this several times before in my life without any problem so I keep telling myself not to be "silly"! Even though, I think I'll clear everything out from under the main sink in the kitchen - the washing machine is in our small utility room - and clear the way for a rapid access to the stopcock just in case. Don't like messing with the main stopcock either because I find they often leak from the gland when you turn them back on again! Got to be done though, so, take a big breath Jock, it's going to be fine!

Just one immediate problem to sort out now which is that HM revenue seem to want to fine me £100 because my brother has not sent them his self assessment tax return on time! Which is not surprising seeing as how he died just before Christmas! They are addressing me as his "representative" and warning me that if the return is not made within about the next month ongoing fines will ensue! I've had a couple of phone calls with them - the waiting time to get through is absolutely unacceptable, you couldn't possibly run a normal business with a phone service like theirs - and I seem to have got them to agree that it's not got to be paid out of my personal account but from his estate. however if payment is not forthcoming almost immediately further fines will ensue. The solicitor tells me no funds have yet been released regarding his estate so I don't know what to do now except pay them from my own pocket and then, with a bit of luck, get it back from his estate. All very stressful, especially the prospect of further fines being imposed. Must say I really could do without this. Going to try to contact them again on Monday and explain it's going to take time to assemble all the tax details needed to do the return - at least I now know who his accountant is.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Im recovering.. I hope, from a bout of something thats been a week my digestions shot. Age I think.
I hope MrsJ makes a speedy turn to normality. If it doesnt clear up get some proper advice before too long.

Sorry to hear you too have been ill and thanks for the kind wishes. Yes, I was thinking of ringing the Doc if it persists but she seems to be just about on the turn now - of course her entire digestive tract must be completely empty by now - but she is comfortably back in the bed and not running to the loo any more (which was why she decided to lie on the bathroom floor to cut the distance to the loo! If she continues to get better, or gets no worse, over the next few hours I think she's going to be Ok. Trouble is, as you get older, the body isn't so robust any more so earlier intervention is advisable.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Oh hurrah! the printer linked successfully with the new router and all seems to be working!

Mrs J seems to have turned the corner in that she's stopped being sick and sitting on the loo now and I've got her tucked up in bed with a microwavable heat pad and the electric blanket on so she's nice and toasty. Hopefully she'll sleep for a while now and feel better when she wakes.

Feeling a bit sorry for myself these days what with loosing my brother back at Christmas time - I'm coming to terms with that now though - and Mrs J's sister being so terribly ill end of February, she's still not quite right even now although we did manage to get her back home to Devon and then spend a couple of weeks with her. I fear that, at 84 years old, she's probably not going to make a complete recovery though.

One thing which has gone very well is that the next day to us returning home the outreach chap turned up to install our full fibre broadband - Sky gave us the installation and router free as part of the negotiations for us to renew our package with them, we were on copper wire before that. The Sky man came and did a survey a few weeks ago, just after we agreed our new contract, and told us the installation of the hardware would be done by the outreach people and to expect they might need to dig a trench across the front lawn to install the new fibre cable. So when the outreach man said he could do it through existing conduiting as long as I didn't mind him drilling a hole for the wire from the hall through into the living room - the conduit terminates in the hall and the new broadband termination needs to be in the living room. The internal wall is just Thermalite type block so drills very easily and he's made a very nice neat job of the whole thing with no "trench" dug across the lawn. He even offered to hoover up when he'd finished if he could borrow our vacuum but there was so little mess I did it myself in about 2 minutes flat.

Unfortunately though that was where the good news ended. I like my AV setup - so NAS, Blu Ray, Freeview reciever/recorder, AV amp and the TV itself - hard wired for speed and reliability so I have one ethernet cable to a splitter/junction box which takes feed for all but the freeview box which I run to the router on it's own dedicated ethernet cable to ensure best loading speeds. So there's only two ethernet cables to plug into the router and all should be up and running. Ok, everything except the Freeview box is fine but the Freeview box seems to be locked in the Android home screen on start up and you need to be in the Freeview screen to access settings, Oh dear. Half an hour of trying all the usual reset procedures and it's having none of it. Checked online for any help, and there's plenty on there for Humax (which is what the box is, a Humax Aura) but nothing about what's happening to me. So rang Humax help line and they talked me through basically what I'd tried already with a couple of slightly different "twists" at the end of which they declared the box faulty, checked I'd had it less than 2 years and agreed to send me a new one. It arrived yesterday and I had it up and running in about 15 minutes of opening the packaging - took about a day and a half to reach me with DPD which I thought was pretty good. I'm also very impressed with the couple of people I spoke to at Humax who were very pleasant and extremely helpful. Having managed to get my printer to comunicate with the new router this morning completes the instalation. We noticed last night that catchup TV/films etc seem to be loading instantaneously with no sign of the wee rotating circle we had before when on copper. I guess that's the fibre speed?

Next big worry is that on Monday our new washing machine is being delivered - the old one, which we've had for years, is beyond repair - and they want quite a lot of money to remove the old machine and install the new one so we refused that part of the deal. My oldest boy is going to help me with the physical side of moving the machines and I've done this job in the past without incident, however, as I'm getting older, I find I worry a lot about what just might go wrong when doing anything. So now I'm worrying I might get a water leak when I'm swapping the hoses over. There is one of those wee ball type (quarter turn) isolating taps but it's mains water on this pipe and we have very good mains pressure. The consequences of a serious leak are frightening me. On the other hand I've done this several times before in my life without any problem so I keep telling myself not to be "silly"! Even though, I think I'll clear everything out from under the main sink in the kitchen - the washing machine is in our small utility room - and clear the way for a rapid access to the stopcock just in case. Don't like messing with the main stopcock either because I find they often leak from the gland when you turn them back on again! Got to be done though, so, take a big breath Jock, it's going to be fine!

Just one immediate problem to sort out now which is that HM revenue seem to want to fine me £100 because my brother has not sent them his self assessment tax return on time! Which is not surprising seeing as how he died just before Christmas! They are addressing me as his "representative" and warning me that if the return is not made within about the next month ongoing fines will ensue! I've had a couple of phone calls with them - the waiting time to get through is absolutely unacceptable, you couldn't possibly run a normal business with a phone service like theirs - and I seem to have got them to agree that it's not got to be paid out of my personal account but from his estate. however if payment is not forthcoming almost immediately further fines will ensue. The solicitor tells me no funds have yet been released regarding his estate so I don't know what to do now except pay them from my own pocket and then, with a bit of luck, get it back from his estate. All very stressful, especially the prospect of further fines being imposed. Must say I really could do without this. Going to try to contact them again on Monday and explain it's going to take time to assemble all the tax details needed to do the return - at least I now know who his accountant is.

Did you use the one stop reporting of your brothers death. If so I think you will be easily within your rights to tell them to get stuffed. They should be in a position to judge the likely tax and request it. Its is not your responsibility to file his tax return surely? It can only be a judgement on what exactly came from where. They should politely be told to go away and come back when they have grown up. It may possibly be that there is tax to pay, but a fine, NO CHANCE. Who exactly are they fining? We had troubles with BT who continued to pester us for two years after we paid the final bill for my father. In the end I did tell them I would be seeking out the sender of any further letters and resolving the matter with them on a one to one basis while suggesting bthis would not be a very good outcome for the person concerned. I also gave them the location address of his final resting place and told them to send further correspondence there. They did then finally get the point. If you are executor you would be rounding up funds to list for probabte. My brother is an ex chartered accountant retd. He was executor for both his and my mums estates so has fairly fresh understanding. If you want I could ask him for advice on anything they are saying. Feel free to PM if this might help. Also try Citizens Advice as this is the sort of thing they seem quite good at. While there are rules there is always flexibility in such circumstances if someone involved switches on their brain. Threats of fines in this situation are in my opinion wholly unacceptable on every level. Im sure you are not obstructive and would sit down and work through this with / for them, the heavy hand of enforcement is entirely inappropriate. Just thoiught, the Fine letter may be one of the automatic ones. If so a letter setting out the score and telling them the tax will be settled as soon as practical ought to get things resolved.

I hope mrs J is sson back up and about.

 

[vexorg]

Don't you own a Nissan Juke which shares the same platform as a dozen other cars with the juke being probably the most expensive of them?

Captur maybe, much the same price. I would really struggle to see Nissan owners looking down on Renault...

Also the juke was historically the "fashionable" version of the Qashqai with 3 doors and less practicality.

Juke is and always has been 5 door. It's considerably cheaper than a qashqai, the qashqai starts above the most expensive juke. Same way as the Xtrail starts at where the qashqai maxes out.

I had an audi and a vw, same parts between them (golf and a3). Older cars, but even the newer audi stuff is the same as vw. You'd need to be blind or a true fanboy not to see it.

Just to make the point, a lower arm of a vag, how many cars does it fit?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404673881826

 

[AndyRKett]

I had an audi and a vw, same parts between them (golf and a3). Older cars, but even the newer audi stuff is the same as vw. You'd need to be blind or a true fanboy not to see it.

I literally acknowledged that they share parts under the skin but as I also pointed out the body and interior of an Audi is now nothing like a vw.

The RS3 which is a 400+ hp car shares the same platform as much cheaper and lower spec’d cars which makes for some very good cheap cars. You see that as a bad thing ?

As stated all manufacturers share platforms, the juke being a prime example and one of the most expensive cars on that platform so again what makes the juke demonstrably better than other cars that use that platform….

It doesn’t really matter if the cars share parts, that keeps prices down and keeps companies in business

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Did you use the one stop reporting of your brothers death. If so I think you will be easily within your rights to tell them to get stuffed. They should be in a position to judge the likely tax and request it. Its is not your responsibility to file his tax return surely? It can only be a judgement on what exactly came from where. They should politely be told to go away and come back when they have grown up. It may possibly be that there is tax to pay, but a fine, NO CHANCE. Who exactly are they fining? We had troubles with BT who continued to pester us for two years after we paid the final bill for my father. In the end I did tell them I would be seeking out the sender of any further letters and resolving the matter with them on a one to one basis while suggesting bthis would not be a very good outcome for the person concerned. I also gave them the location address of his final resting place and told them to send further correspondence there. They did then finally get the point. If you are executor you would be rounding up funds to list for probabte. My brother is an ex chartered accountant retd. He was executor for both his and my mums estates so has fairly fresh understanding. If you want I could ask him for advice on anything they are saying. Feel free to PM if this might help. Also try Citizens Advice as this is the sort of thing they seem quite good at. While there are rules there is always flexibility in such circumstances if someone involved switches on their brain. Threats of fines in this situation are in my opinion wholly unacceptable on every level. Im sure you are not obstructive and would sit down and work through this with / for them, the heavy hand of enforcement is entirely inappropriate. Just thoiught, the Fine letter may be one of the automatic ones. If so a letter setting out the score and telling them the tax will be settled as soon as practical ought to get things resolved.

I hope mrs J is sson back up and about.

Yup, I did use the one stop reporting. At the time seemed like a great way to do it rather than individually notifying. This is probably where they picked up my name and address. I'm aware too that the law in many respects is different in Scotland to that in England so, although I much appreciate your offer to "lend" me your brother, he may not be completely au fait with the position in Scottish law?

I'm actually not an executor but my oldest boy is - being the oldest we always assumed I'd be "shuffling off" first. The main executor however is my brother's lawyer who is specifically named in the will as such and that he's to handle "everything". I know he is at present collating all the financial side of things and that a valuer has been employed to value his considerable possessions for probate - I've supplied the solicitor's name and business address to the tax people and also stated that in no way am I my brother's "representative" as they keep addressing me. I've asked for all future correspondence to be sent via the solicitor/executor. Of course I am a benefactor from the will but I don't see how that can make me his "representative"? Considering the circumstances the whole approach has been conducted thoughtlessly and in very bad taste. I think I'll just wait and see if they send me another letter or whether they start corresponding with his solicitor who will know much better than me what the legal position is.

 

[StevenRB45]

I've got nothing particularly helpful to add to Panda nuts posting but hope you're doing ok and feel better Jock.

On thread subject...bit of day trip.

Of course you have to take this photo...

Now where's my bed?